NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Police are investigating what they described as an officer-involved shooting near a park in Northwest Miami-Dade’s Brownsville neighborhood that sent a man to the hospital.
Miami-Dade Police and Fire Rescue units responded to the area of Northwest 24th Avenue and 50th Street, Wednesday night.
“Person shot, Northwest 50th Street and 24th Avenue,” a dispatcher is heard saying in radio transmissions.
The shots rang out near Brownsville Middle School and Marva Y. Bannerman Park.
According to police, the subject fled in his dark-colored Nissan after committing a traffic infraction on Wednesday evening. Once units located the vehicle, the subject hit a parked vehicle on 50th Street with his car.
Detectives said the subject exited the Nissan armed and began running across a park on 50th Street where children were playing.
“At the end of the day, you have an individual that’s fleeing from officers with a firearm in their hand,” said Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta. “You don’t know what that person’s intentions are at the time.”
Video that has circulated on social media shows the moment shots were fired. Police are heard screaming at the man to drop the gun as he is seen running.
Seconds later, multiple shots are heard, even after the man hits the ground. Eventually, the injured man sits back up and falls to one side.
At one point in the video, after the gunfire ends, the man raises his arms in the air.
“You of course see him running through a park, where you’re visually seeing children playing,” said Zabaleta. “That’s something that clearly is a concern.”
Another video shows people who were playing basketball in the park running as gunshots are heard.
“Yo!” one person said on the video. “They still shooting.”
As detectives combed the scene, they said, the gun was recovered.
Neighbors were left terrified.
“It was a guy with, like, a black shirt, black pants running,” said one woman who did not want to identify herself. “Next thing we heard, we heard gunshots, like multiple gunshots. We actually dropped down to the floor.”
Witness Ronald Johnson told 7News that officers told him to get out of the area as shots rang out.
“You sound a little shaken up. Is it like nerve-wracking?” asked 7News reporter Joe Roetz.
“Yes, of course. I thought they were coming after me. I was like, ‘What did I do wrong?’ said Johnson. “They come out in full force, like army, like a hit squad almost, unfortunately. But I guess they are doing their job.”
Johnson said he was heading to a meeting at the Circle of Brotherhood, a group that tries to combat violence among Black men.
“All the other police surround me as if I did something wrong,” explained Johnson. “Then they just had to move their cars around the block.”
Another witness described what she saw.
“I saw two boys ran by, and then, after that, that’s when I heard the gunshots,” said a woman. “Like, what if a child would have gotten hit?”
Paramedics transported the man who came under fire to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. As of Thursday afternoon, he is listed in critical condition.
It is unclear whether or not police will charge the subject.
Neither the subject nor the officer has been identified.
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